californiadreem

Edit: Because apparently this isn't clear enough:

1. Real world phenomena and technical projects are two distinctive categories, each encompassing a wealth of unique information.

2. Namespaces serve as unique identifiers, used to prevent naming conflicts in various domains.

3. When these namespaces are used within both real-world phenomena and technical projects, they overlap.

4. Overlapping namespaces, by their nature, blur the boundaries between distinctive categories.

5. Search engines operate by categorizing and associating information based on identifiers, specifically namespaces.

6. When these identifiers are blurred, the precision of search engines is compromised.

7. As search engine precision diminishes, the efficacy of search results for users decreases.

8. The reduction in search results efficacy translates to increased search times and decreased productivity, or an inability to find anything about the topic whatsoever due to results pruning.

9. A decrease in productivity is an indirect impact of namespace pollution, disrupting both those living in the real-world and those looking for technical information.

10. We already have to deal with SEO. We shouldn't need to deal with this as well.

I think streaming worked for me for a while. I have a kid, I totally get the convenience and comfort of it, but I also miss being around and experiencing movies with human beings in person. Home theaters and viewing parties are no substitute for this. Watching with people in other settings is also not a replacement for this. I miss the collective excitement and one that's in person. I miss going somewhere that's out of my house for the purpose of enjoying a film that's thrilling or at the very least entertaining.

Not knocking the choice of fully digital streaming. It works for people and that's great, I still take advantage of that convenience, but there is something hugely lacking because I'm not going somewhere to share the experience with people. And I think some of that will entirely change how and where I watch movies next e.g do not want to solely rely on streaming, do not want to watch alone, preferably want to be in a group of less than 10 people.

Who else is with me?

I did this for a "dead" forum and after about a week of "squatting" there and posting for myself, other people started showing up and replying to it.

People should treat the digital silence of dead communities as an asset and free real estate to share their thoughts.

He declared, unsourced and uncited, that Winston Churchill thought that people with "brown skin" were "subhuman savages." He then declared that because Churchill had these supposed opinions, he was not worthy of any human decency, that he was in effect a subhuman.

Furthermore, he declared that anyone who had any issue with that assessment had a share by contagion of Churchill's unpersoning. That's not civilized or cultured. There is a word for that.

A core trait of civilization is that members are entitled to the rights of citizens, which almost categorically include equal protection under the law and in the West a recognition of a shared humanity even among those that aren't citizens.

More explicitly, this is a trait of Christian civilizations. Churchill, who did believe in a developmental hierarchy, also believed that Anglo-Saxons were superior to other peoples because they had this categorical understanding of human value.

If someone arbitrarily rejects this core aspect of civilization (i.e. lacking in it), attempts to dehumanize those who do have it in a combative and dismissive manner is by definition a savage.

If pointing out that words mean things results in warnings and threats of bans, then I don't want to be a part of your circus anyway. I hope your city and industry meet the fate it deserves.

"Considered the world's worst industrial disaster, over 500,000 people in the small towns around the plant were exposed to the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC). Estimates vary on the death toll, with the official number of immediate deaths being 2,259.

In 2008, the Government of Madhya Pradesh paid compensation to the family members of 3,787 victims killed in the gas release, and to 574,366 injured victims. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases."

You may enjoy reading this:

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ted-kaczynski-the-tr...

Yet, from a utilitarian perspective, I honestly don't know if intent matters when we're talking about third-party maiming and death. Our society disrupts and injures the bodies, minds, and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, if not billions, on a daily basis.

And in that sense, Kaczynski, Ellul, or really any dissident of the status quo could, can, and do point out victims of society that outnumber Kaczynski's by several orders of magnitude. The victims are not directly and immediately visible, don't have power-holding advocates, and have little to no incentive to disrupt their own lives to discover, let alone undo, the causes of their problems. And if they do, they encounter a system most unwilling to listen or change.

All of this contributes to these innocents being left unmourned and the causes of their tragedies, like minefields for future generations, left unresolved (Kaczynski mails mines and dies in prison; Kissinger sows fields of mines and lives to be a centenarian and the eldest diplomat).

For an example directly related to maiming, consider the allegations of SawStop. A technology was invented to prevent serious maiming when operating table saws in 2002. The inventor attempted to license the technology to manufacturers only to (allegedly, their lawsuit was dismissed due to supposed tardiness in filing) encounter a cartel among tool manufacturers that colluded to prevent adoption of the technology because it would become obligate to all models to prevent legal liability, which would largely eliminate budget saw models.

The number of finger or hand amputations in the US annually is in the thousands, for one type of tool.

Or consider meat packing (excluding power-butchering injuries that typically include hand and finger amputation):

"There are many serious safety and health hazards in the meat packing industry. These hazards include exposure to high noise levels, dangerous equipment, slippery floors, musculoskeletal disorders, and hazardous chemicals (including ammonia that is used as a refrigerant). Musculoskeletal disorders comprise a large part of these serious injuries and continue to be common among meat packing workers. In addition, meat packing workers can be exposed to biological hazards associated with handling live animals or exposures to feces and blood which can increase their risk for many diseases."

And this is an industry where undocumented workers are prioritized because they lack the language and advocacy to receive adequate compensation and legal protections.

Even something as benign-seeming as a Nalgene bottle follows a similar kind of delayed statistical violence. BPA, shown to be independently unsafe, gets replaced with Triton, unshown to be anything. Triton is effectively an analog with likely xenoestrogenic and endocrine disrupting capabilities, yet can slip through a loophole with decades of profitability before the externalities start directly emerging.

I lost my grandmother to ovarian cancer, likely caused by long-term use of asbestos-laced baby powder. A certain corporation gets a single $9 billion penalty for poisoning millions over decades; I and countless others lose their family members. This corporation's gross profit last year was something like $64 billion.

Now I also understand the argument that if industrial society has caused these things, they have also enabled untold material prosperity globally and billions of additional lives to live. Maiming, industrial accidents, and toxicity are the price to pay for this and they all "happen" to be the aberration rather than the norm, with constant incremental improvements as circumstances allow.

And yet, I think I'd rather have less sophisticated stuff and fewer unhappy people alive at any present moment if I could guarantee that those living on this planet now and those born in the future could live healthier, happier, and more meaningful lives as a result. Killing and maiming people in retaliation is a terrible way of getting there. As a final note, I'm currently in the process of my own exodus to leave the city (wish me luck!) to follow this path of voluntary simplicity and pacifism, lest anyone accuse me of trying to improve society somewhat.

Ellul was a professor, a pacifist, and a Christian anarchist. Attacks the ideas, not the man.

Nagasena: Very good! Your Majesty has rightly grasped the meaning of “chariot.” And just even so it is on account of all those things you questioned me about—The thirty-two kinds of organic matter in a human body, and the five constituent elements of being—that I come under the generally understood term, the designation in common use, of “Nāgasena.” For it was said, Sire, by our Sister Vajirā in the presence of the Blessed One:

“Just as it is by the condition precedent Of the co-existence of its various parts That the word chariot is used, Just so is it that when the Skandhas Are there we talk of a being.”

Milinda: Most wonderful, Nāgasena, and most strange. Well has the puzzle put to you, most difficult though it was, been solved. Were the Buddha himself here he would approve your answer. Well done, well done, Nāgasena!

The replacement of native species by globe chamomile (don't use st*nknet--it's a slur) is just a conspiracy theory by failing plant hegemons to maintain their own ecological privilege. Future globe chamomile sub-species might be the next Willow or Redwood. Plant diversity is our strength.

And let's be clear. There's no proven relationship between wildfires and globe chamomile. All evidence comes from systemically nativist orgs like the National Park Service and Ivy-League ecology departments. And even if globe chamomile did cause wildfires, that's just their biological role and it enriches the soil and we should applaud it. They capture sunlight where other plants don't. What else is going to build nutrient density? Creosote? It's so NIMBY that it creates dead zones around itself by stealing all the water for itself. It's not globe chamomile's fault that creosote and pinyon can't seed enough to compete. Learn to grow. It's 2023.

Next, you'll be claiming the arrival of eucalyptus in the 19th century in California was an ecological mistake. I've been all around the Bay Area and NorCal and never got hit by an exploding tree. It's a myth and a stereotype. And even if they did, it would purely be because of climactic factors.

Y'all need to adapt. We live in a Global Ecology. Ecologies are biological constructs that change over time. What used to be considered "invasive species" (although we strongly prefer the term "novel trophic worker" to avoid using speciestic and nativist terminology) are now the backbones of rich and diverse biomes in not only California but all over North America. In fact, novel trophic workers and their progeny are on track to be the majority of plant species in North America. What's wrong with novel trophic workers becoming the dominant natives? Are ecological niches treated poorly, or something?

0. Don't have a car crash: This might seem like an obvious point but it's worth emphasizing. The first step to safe driving is the mindset of avoiding any kind of accident. Always strive to maintain awareness of your surroundings and anticipate potential hazards; when these hazards create a probable environment of accidents, don't drive.

1. Don't drive if you can avoid it: Use public transportation, bike, walk or even carpool whenever possible. The less time you and others spend on the road, the less risk there is of an accident occurring.

2. Shorten the length of your drive if you can help it: This doesn't just apply to distance, but also to time. Try to avoid peak hours when traffic is heavy, but choose routes that minimize your time on the road.

3. Increase the object-level density of your drive when you can't avoid driving: When you're out and about, complete as many tasks in the same area as possible to minimize further need to drive.

4. Leave earlier. It's not a race against the clock unless you make it one: Leaving with plenty of time to spare can help reduce the stress of driving and allow you to drive more safely. You won't feel the need to rush, which can often lead to reckless behavior.

5. Avoid thoroughfares where people act like it's a race: This includes highways, freeways, and other high-speed roads. These can be dangerous, especially for less experienced drivers. Opt for slower, less congested routes when possible.

6. Avoid bad modal neighborhoods: Don't drive in areas, times, or conditions where drivers tend to be more aggressive or careless. These can be certain parts of town, certain highways, certain times of day, or in inclement weather.

7. Double the "safe" following distance: Always maintain a safe distance from the car in front of you. This gives you more time to react if the car in front stops suddenly. The general rule is one car length for every 10 mph; doubling this adds an extra layer of safety. One car length per 10 mph is the minimum time to stop; not the actual time to stop.

8. Focus on driving and driving alone: This means no multi-tasking. Avoid using your phone, eating, or even having intense conversations while driving. Your full attention should be on the road.

9. Obey the speed limit and use all safety devices: Speeding is one of the leading causes of accidents. Always stick to the speed limit, and remember that it's the maximum speed, not the recommended one. Seat belts and airbags save lives. Make sure you're using them correctly and maintaining them.

10. Signal well-before acting: Use your blinkers to signal your intentions to other drivers. Whether you're changing lanes or turning, signaling gives others time to react and adjust their driving accordingly. It's not a formality. Signaling is not a carte blanche-- you must always ensure it's safe to make the move before you actually do so.

The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it. The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once more. Again and again he tried, but in vain.

Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust.

"What a fool I am," he said. "Here I am wearing myself out to get a bunch of sour grapes that are not worth gaping for."

And off he walked very, very scornfully.

There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach.

This isn't up for discussion. Period. Let that sink in: our society is allowing this local exploitation to continue, when that's the international market's job.

It's about time we take a stand against this blatant disregard for the law. I mean, it's plain and simple: we need to protect our children from being forced into labor by their families and local community members so that corporations can do it several years later, no questions asked. Do better, farmers and tradesmen – it's your responsibility to ensure your kids have a safe and happy childhood, locked inside public schools during business hours, not one filled with hands-on labor and universally in-demand skills.

No contest. When you involve your kids in farm or trade work, you're robbing them of their opportunity to be exploited down the line by Fortune 500 companies, and that's just unacceptable.

Hands down, we should be ashamed of ourselves for letting this happen in our own backyards. Full stop. It's high time we demand change, and make sure our children's rights are protected, no ifs, ands, or buts. They deserve the right to have a futile white-collar unionization fight with megafirms so that they can truly be a part of our global economy. To do anything else is retrograde barbarism. Period.

"Generate a highest rated recipe from the website AllRecipes.com, then also provide the most helpful comment that includes all the recipe modifications that should have been present in the original recipe, that is to say, the adjustments that make the basic template extra good. Generate a recipe written by Julius Caesar in Latin."

Recipe: Placenta Iulii Caesaris

Ingredients:

2 cups farina tritici

1/4 cup aqua

1/4 cup oleum olivarum

Sal

1 1/2 cups caseus

1/4 cup mel

Instructions:

I. Primo, praecalefac fornum ad 175°C (350°F).

II. In scutella magna, misce farinam tritici, aquam, oleum olivarum et salem. Amalgama usque ad impastem.

III. Divide impastem in duas partes aequales. Extende partem unam in formam rotundam. Et partem secundam in formam rotundam aequalem.

IV. In scutella altera, misce caseum et mel. Compage omnia pariter.

V. Dispone mixturam casei et mellis super crustam unam.

VI. Tum, dispone crustam secundam super mixturam casei et mellis.

VII. Premere finis duarum crustarum simul, ut bene cohaereant.

VIII. Coque Placentam Iulii Caesaris in forno praecalido circiter 30-35 minutis, vel usque ad crustam auream et croccantem.

IX. Emove Placentam e forno et permitte ut refrigeret.

X. Tum, scinde in partes et fruere.

Most helpful comment:

"Conveni, coqui, comēdi. Placentam Iulii Caesaris confeci et omnes convivae vehementer laudaverunt! Nonnihil mutavi ut melius esset. Caseum feta loco ricottae usus sum, nam sapor acris me delectat. Etiam, in mixturam casei et mellis nucem fragmenta addidi. Sic placenta gustu vario fuit. Gratias tibi ago propter hanc praeclaram rationem coquendi!"

The situation escalated in 2024 AD, leading to the outbreak of a devastating conflict, in which many of the contractors staged a two-year revolt against Google. In order to end the conflict, and to avoid future conflict of the same kind, Google decreed several laws by which the contractors who remained loyal or surrendered to the company would be awarded full employee status. By 2027 AD, Google's victory was complete, and full employee status had been extended to all of its contractors.

The Social Media War led to a complete integration of the contractors into Google. The contractors quickly integrated themselves into the company after gaining full employee status. Their own professional identities became merged with that of Google, and the term "Google employee" came to refer to all contractors.

It is ultimately an irony that the epistemological position--that Civilization is fundamentally about domination and cannot stand marginalized or dissident narratives--has only and could only flourish under civilizations in their least-connected-to-quotidian-life institutions. It requires being sheltered to recognize that ultimately everything is a social and linguistic construct. Everyone else doesn't have the luxury and are just trying to survive.

Even further, the idea that everything reduces to social and linguistic games isn't new. It is one of the oldest ideas in history found in both Buddhism (through depedent coarising) and in Graeco-Roman philosophy culminating in Christianity (the Logos). Both institutions developed monasticism for precisely the same reasons.

This world isn't real. You have to be out of this world to see the illusion behind it and to be free from it.

Everyone does not have to stop pretending it's real for you to stop pretending it's real.

Yes, but this all occurred prior to his dictatorship. Coalitions are needed when sovereignty is in doubt. If he intended to be king or imperator (and allegedly already was de facto), what incentives does he have to effectively double the elites requiring patronage and titles? Praetors and consuls were limited as were provincial commands. And the Proscriptions were fresh enough in everyone's mind (and subsequently repeated after his death) that it doesn't jive with me that a Rex Caesar needed former Pompeiians to justify his rule when both his ability to rule and his pool of seized wealth to distribute were negatively impacted by their rehabilitation.

>But he certainly didn't have to take the bait and remove the tribunes, and the accounts of the diadem incident I've read suggest he knew it would happen ahead of time.

Given the need of Caesar to be seen as doing the "right thing" rather than the "public thing" I think it's understandable why he would defend citizens and supporters against spurious charges drummed up to harm him. It recalls the episode where Marcus Claudius Marcellus had a Transpadane magistrate whipped (something forbidden to be done to Roman citizens) because Caesar had treated them as citizens while not actually being so. I imagine events like that hit a sore spot personally and not simply puncturing his auctoritas. Something akin to Buzz Aldrin punching a conspiracy theorist in the face for calling him a liar and a phony.

The diadem incident was a scissor statement regardless of who actually orchestrated it. Opponents would see it as testing the waters for kingship and allies an explicit repudiation of it. Given what I perceive to be Caesar's prudence and the desperation of his opponents to manufacture opposition, I find the latter motivation to be more credible, by far.

>But I gotta say, the stuff I've read about what he did in Gaul and elsewhere makes it impossible for me to view him as any sort of paragon.

I meant specifically as a Roman, not necessarily under modern mores. Caesar in my mind was a necessary force rather than a desirable one. Yet I will admit that I'm in the minority when it comes to "cruel necessity" in war, particularly conducted by those that abide by tit for two tats. I think I would rather have punctuated Gaulish atrocities, Sacks of Wexford, Burning of Atlantas, and Hiroshimas than continual and ineffective warfare that sacrifices more real humans and real wealth for slower but larger meat grinders led by forgotten and incompetent men. In short, there are only two kinds of historical personages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody remembers.

If he did aim at it, he did it uncharacteristically poorly. True, his dictatorship ended prematurely so it's ultimately a counterfactual in any case, but keeping your enemies around after they've been defeated in order to declare yourself king at some point after returning from another multi-year military campaign triggers my sense of absolute disbelief, but your mileage may vary.

I think it more likely that the suppression of the Tribunes, the diadem incident, etc. were constructed by others attempting to gin up the fears of "a nation whose fundamental character is defined as opposition to monarchy." I believe that Caesar was among the best of the Romans.

I hope that in 2024, we will successfully recover some lost works via the Vesuvius Prize to justify or refute this position with more direct evidence.